Time Machine, on your tempo.
A native menu-bar app that decides when Time Machine runs: custom intervals, scheduled times, blackout windows — and smart deferrals so a backup never lands in the middle of your call. No account, no telemetry.
macOS 14 Sonoma or laterNo account, no telemetryNot affiliated with Apple
Interactive · how BackupTempo schedules
Your day, your tempo.
Drag the interval and toggle the rules. Watch backups move themselves out of your video call, your export, and your work hours — while macOS's default schedule barrels straight through them.
8 backups · none mid-task vs. macOS default: 24 backups, 4 colliding with your work
Illustration — the real app drives Time Machine with
tmutil on your Mac, on exactly these rules.
Everything Time Machine's own scheduler doesn't give you.
Six capabilities, mapped to what's actually shipping — roadmap items are labeled, not implied.
Scheduling
A custom interval from 1 to 24 hours, fixed times of day, or per-weekday rules — pick whichever matches how you actually work.
Blackout windows
Block out "never back up 9am–6pm weekdays" style windows so backups stay out of your working hours entirely.
Menu-bar state
The menu bar shows exactly what's happening: idle, counting down, backing up with live progress, or stale and needs attention.
Backup Now / Skip / Pause
Force a backup immediately, skip the next one, or pause the whole schedule for an hour or a day — no digging through System Settings.
Retry with backoff
If a destination is missing or the network drops, BackupTempo retries with backoff up to a cap, then tells you.
Smart deferrals
App-aware, meeting-aware, and load-aware deferrals that hold a backup until your Mac is actually idle.
Your schedule and your backups never leave your Mac.
- No account, ever
- Zero telemetry
- Opt-in crash reports only
- Settings live on your Mac
| What leaves your Mac | |
|---|---|
| Update check | Sparkle appcast, this domain only |
| Crash reports | Opt-in, off by default |
| Your schedule & backup data | Never leave your machine |
No daemon. No private API. No root.
Set Time Machine's built-in frequency to "Manually" once — the app walks you through the one-time System Settings step.
BackupTempo owns the schedule from there — your intervals, times, and rules run entirely in your user session.
When it's time, it fires tmutil startbackup --auto --rotation — the same sanctioned command-line interface Time Machine itself uses.
This is why it's robust: nothing here is a background daemon or a private API, so nothing here breaks the moment Apple ships a Time Machine update.
Join the beta.
BackupTempo is in active development. Direct download, signed and notarized, arrives at launch — join the beta to get it first.
Using TimeMachineEditor or Time Machine Schedule? Quit and remove their schedules first — two schedulers will fight over the backup window.
Questions worth answering plainly.
Is this made by Apple?
No. BackupTempo is an independent app, not affiliated with Apple. Time Machine is a trademark of Apple Inc.
Does it need root or Full Disk Access?
No. Scheduling runs entirely in your user session — no root privileges, no kernel extensions. Full Disk Access is never required for core scheduling; it will be optional later, only to unlock backup-health features that need to read Time Machine's own preferences.
How does it control Time Machine?
It sets Time Machine's built-in frequency to "Manually" once, then fires tmutil startbackup --auto --rotation from your user session on the schedule you set — the same command-line interface Time Machine itself uses to trigger a backup. See "How it works" above.
What happens if my Mac is asleep at backup time?
The next scheduled check runs when your Mac wakes. Nothing fires while asleep, and nothing is silently skipped forever.
Does it work with network destinations/NAS?
Yes — BackupTempo schedules whatever destination Time Machine is already configured to use, local or network.
What does it send over the network?
Only a Sparkle update check to this domain. No account, no telemetry, no analytics. See "Private by design" above.
Which macOS versions?
macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
What about the Mac App Store?
Sandboxed App Store apps can't control Time Machine — the sandbox blocks the same XPC connection to backupd that any Time Machine scheduler needs, and there's no entitlement Apple grants for it. That's why BackupTempo will ship as a direct download, signed and notarized, instead of through the App Store.